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    • Aug 16, 2021
    • 3 min read

Virginia Updates for August 16

It's Monday, Virginia! Here are your Virginia Updates for August 16 📬


We have news on;

- School Mask Mandate

- General Assembly Wrap-up

- New Judges to Appellate Court

- 2020 Census Data Is In!

- Vaccine Update

- COVID-19


🔶 Learn more about the COVID-19 and the vaccine @ vaccinate.virginia.gov


⚠️ FREE COVID-19 TESTING & VACCINES: Counties across Virginia continue to offer free COVID-19 testing and vaccines. As COVID starts to rise again, we will repost all free testing sites and vaccination clinics when they become available on our story.


❓MORE INFO: For more information and sources on today's post, please visit the link in our bio or @ wevotevirginia.com




School Mask Mandate


Virginia will require all students, teachers and staff inside private and public K-12 schools to wear a mask as COVID-19 cases increase.


The order “reinforces current state law,” Governor Northam’s office said in a statement, which requires that Virginia’s schools offer in-person instruction but also requires they follow the guidance of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Almost all Virginia counties have high or substantial spread of covid within communities, which means the CDC recommends masks for everyone over 2 in indoor, public settings.


While the order does apply to all individuals, it does include seven exceptions. Here are four of the seven exceptions:

  • When eating, drinking or sleeping

  • When exercising or using exercise equipment

  • Anyone who has a disability or meets at-risk criteria or those assisting such persons

  • When necessary to participate in a religious ritual

Find all the exception and more below in the sources linked.




General Assembly Wrap-up


The General Assembly last week approved a spending plan for $4.3 billion in federal relief money, with lawmakers leaving about $1.1 billion unappropriated so it is available for future needs if the pandemic worsens.


The plan contains a few ­changes, including an extra $38.1 million to provide a one-time bonus of $3,000 for sheriff’s deputies and corrections officers.


It also includes $2.5 million for a violence-reduction program and language requiring DMV offices to return to walk-in services that were stopped during the pandemic.


The plan also includes:

  • $800 million to replenish the Unemployment Trust Fund

  • $700 million for Rural Broadband

  • $411 million on Clean-Water Projects

  • $353 million for Small-Business Relief

  • $250 million for School Ventilation Systems




New Judges to Appeals Court


Last Monday, the House Courts and Senate Judiciary committees announced that they had agreed on eight nominees to fill two vacancies and six new seats on the Virginia Court of Appeals.


The nominees are:

  • Dominique A. Callins - Front Royal, practices family law.

  • Doris Henderson Causey - Henrico, managing attorney.

  • Vernida R. Chaney - Alexandria, a criminal defense lawyer.

  • Frank Friedman - Roanoke, chairman of an appellate team.

  • Junius P. Fulton - Norfolk, a Norfolk Circuit Court judge.

  • Lisa M. Lorish - Charlottesville, an assistant federal public defender.

  • Daniel E. Ortiz - Fairfax, a Fairfax Co. Circuit Court judge.

  • Stuart A. Raphael - Arlington, a former Virginia solicitor general.


Six of the new judges were elected in the Democrat-controlled House and Senate as part of a court expansion plan approved by the legislature earlier this year. This would also be the most diverse group of judges appointed.




Virginia Census Data Is In!


The 2020 Census Data is in and Virginia's population grew by 7.9 percent in the last decade!


The census data shows that the bulk of the growth was focused in the northern part of Virginia, while 62 of 133 localities -- largely in Southwest and Southside Virginia -- lost residents.


Graphics above is provided by vpap.org. To learn more, please visit vpap.org/redistricting/census-2020/



Vaccine Updates


Kids ages 5 to 11 could be eligible for a coronavirus vaccine next month, the state’s vaccine coordinator said Tuesday as cases continue to spike.


Dr. Danny Avula, announced the development in a call with reporters last week, noting how the more than 700,000 kids given eligibility status could change the conversation around schools reopening and boost Virginia’s vaccination rates. The 5-to-11 age group accounts for the largest population chunk of children in Virginia.


Vaccine Summary: As of Monday, August 16

  • Total Doses Administered: 9,694,486

  • People Fully Vaccinated: 4,712,192 or 55.2%

  • % of Adults (18+) Fully Vaccinated: 66.3%

  • People Vaccinated with at least 1 dose: 5,318,666 or 62.3%

  • % of Adults (18+) Vaccinated with at least 1 dose: 74.3%


For more information on Virginia's vaccination efforts, please visit vaccinate.virginia.gov or call 877-VAX-IN-VA




COVID Data


To view full covid data, please visit our Instagram.


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Thanks for joining us this week! Come back every Monday @5pm for your Virginia Updates.









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